64 Days of Michael Pollan Day #3

Day #3 Avoid Food Products Containing Ingredients That No Ordinary Human Would Keep In The Pantry.

Ethoxylated diglycerides? Cellulose? Xanthan Gum? Calcium propionate? Ammonium sulfate? If you wouldn't cook with them yourself, why let others use these ingredients to cook for you? The food scientist's chemistry set is designed to extend shelf life, make old food look fresher and more appetizing that it really is, and get you to eat more. Whether or not any of these additives pose a proven hazard to your health, many of them haven't been eaten by humans for very long, so they are best avoided.


*However, I must note about one of his ingredients his lists...xanthan gum. It is very well used in allot of gluten free baking and I have used it alot as well. Xanthan gum helps give foods a chewy mouth feel. It helps as a substitute to create food products to taste better for those who are gluten free.

64 Days of Michael Pollan Day #2

Day#2 Don't Eat Anything Your Great-Grandmother Wouldn't Recognize As Food.

Imagine your great-grandmother (or grand-mother, depending on your age) at your side as you roll down the aisles of the supermarket. You're standing together in front of the dairy case. She picks up a package of Go-Gurt Portable Yogurt tubes- and hasn't a clue what this plastic cylinder of colored and flavored gel could possibly be. Is it a food or is it toothpaste? There are now thousands of foodish products in the supermarket that our ancestors simply wouldn't recognize as food. The reasons to avoid eating such complicated food products are many, and go beyond the various chemical additives and corn and soy derivatives they contain, or the plastics in which they are typically packaged, some of which are probably toxic. Today foods are processed in ways specifically designed to get us to buy and eat more by pushing our evolutionary buttons- our inborn preferences for sweetness and fat and salt. These tastes are difficult to find in nature but cheap and easy for the food scientist to deploy, with the result that food processing induces us to consume much more of these rarities than is good for us. The great-grandma rule will help keep most of these items out of your cart.
Note: If your great-grandmother was a terrible cook or eater, you can substitute someone else's grandmother- a Sicilian or a French one works particularly well.
The next several rules refine this strategy by helping you navigate the treacherous landscape of the ingredients label.

64 Days of Michael Pollan Food Rules

While I was out running errands I came across this book written by Michael Pollan, Food Rules An Eater's Manual, at Sunshine Natural Foods in Auburn. I flipped through a few pages and found it to be pretty inspiring. There are 64 rules in his book so therefore I am going to turn them into 64 days with some recipes!

Day#1 Eat Food
"These days this is easier said than done, especially when seventeen thousand new products show up in the supermarket each year, all vying for you food dollar. But most of these items don't deserve to be called food-I call them edible foodlike substances. They're highly processed concoctions designed by food scientist, consisting mostly of ingredients derived from corn and soy that no normal person keeps in the pantry, and they contain chemical additives which the human body has not been long acquainted. Today much of the challenge of eating well comes down to choosing real food and avoiding these industrial novelties."

Chopped Veggie Salad with a Balsamic Dressing

Green Bell Peppers, diced= 2ea.

Red Bell Peppers, diced= 2 ea.

Zucchini, diced= 6 ea.

Cucumbers, diced= 2 ea.

Broccoli, chopped= 3 ea.

Marinated Artichoke Hearts= 2 cups

Green Onions, sliced= 1 bunch

Dressing:

Shallots, finely diced= 2 ea.

Balsamic Vinegar= 1 cup

Canola Oil= 1 cup

Garlic Cloves= 3ea.

Dijon Mustard= 2 Tbsp.

Parsley= ½ bunch

1. Chop all veggies and combine in a large bowl.

2. In another bowl add all dressing ingredients and whisk. Pour over chopped veggies and toss.